Food Allergies From Birth

My son was born with food allergies, but at the time, I didn't know it.  He was a very colicky baby and was only happy when he was held.  When he cried, I tried to comfort him and/or nurse him.  This insomniac life went on for 3 months until I was at a breast-feeding support group and mentioned that his baby acne wasn't going away.  I had a daughter 2 earlier, so I was familiar with the baby acne thing.  The lactation consultant said it may be a milk allergy, and to check in with the pediatrician.

I was able to get an appointment with the pediatrian that day, and when I got there, the nurse said "I think he has a milk allergy".  What?  Huh?  I was dumbfounded.  The doctor came in and talked to me about my concern and got the papers to get blood tests done for allergies.  The results came back with allergy to milk, eggs and peanuts.  Again, What? Huh?  We had to start him on formula, which broke my heart.  He was such a good nurser but in the end, I was hurting my son.   It made sense that every time he cried, he may not have been hungry, but upset because his stomach felt bad.   I thought he was hungry, so I fed him more. The cycle continued.

We final fed him soy formula at 4 months, but that didn't stay in his stomach for more than 10 minutes.  One good burp and I had soy formula all over my back.  LOL.  That evening we gave him Alimentum, and he slept for 6 hours.  He hadn't slept that long since he was born.

I have many many stories about our journey with food allergies, eczema and asthma, but I'll save it for another day.   I will be writing articles about how we are living today, giving tips about foods he can eat and how I prepare them, and offer advice to those parents struggling with their children's food allergy issues.  Together, we can support each other.

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